Games Connection, Paris 2013

Posted 2013-12-10 16:23:11 by Ben T

Opposable Games recently attended Games Connection 2013 in Paris.  For those that don’t know, this is one of a few events which are run internationally (the others being in San Francisco, Hamburg and Brighton) at which publishers and developers get together to see what’s on the menu for the coming few years.  Deals are done and friends are made quickly.

Taking the sum total of all our conversations, there are a few trends of note that developers should be aware of moving into 2014:

1. Publishing is evolving – quickly.  Publishers are emerging into tiers who are looking for different offerings (free to play, premium, mobile, desktop, full production, shared risk etc) and it pays to find out what your publisher is able to actually offer and their track record in delivering.
   
   
2. There is a big appetite for good games content; some publishers may look for a soft launch so that metrics around pickup, retention, monetization, customer value etc are available, but without exception they need to see a substantial demo which is fun and engaging.  Ideas still matter, they just need to be backed up with good execution.
   
   
3. Development costs in mobile are going up in mobile, so that $100k – $1m is the norm, and for console coming down to nearer those levels.  These are mainly driven by the expanding reach of tools such as Unity and Marmalade which are moving from being used for demos to full production.

The biggest piece of advice for any studio is to get over there and start making friends, no matter your size or portfolio.

Opposable Games were assisted greatly by the UKTI and their Passport to Export programme, which help financially by covering half your costs relating to finding new business in other countries, but also provide focused advice on how to most effectively tackle new markets.  So the second piece of advice is get in touch with your local UKTI representative, it will make an enormous difference to your business.

- Ben T (MD)